Minister Satisfied With Monorail Design

Madiun, E Java (Antara) - State-owned Enterprise (SOE) Minister Dahlan Iskan said he was satisfied with the design of monorail which would be operated to serve passengers in Jakarta and its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek). "Physically, it is almost perfect. But in term of color, it is too normative," the minister said when observing the construction of a monorail carriage by PT INKA here on Monday. He said that the size of its coach was bigger that those of monorail cars overseas such as in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. "One wagon has a seat capacity of 200 passengers," the minister said. Dahlan said that monorails that would be operated in Jabodetabek would need a total of 7 trillion. He said that monorails that would be operated for the route to Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport and for a container monorail track to Tanjung Perak seaport of Surabaya would need a fund of Rp2.5 trillion respectively. The projects will be financed by a consortium of state-owned firms which consisted of PT ADHI KARYA, PT INKA, PT JASA MARGA, PT LEN Industri, PT Telkom and PT Angkasa Pura 2. Besides for Soekarno-Hatta Airport and Tanjung Perak Surabaya, the monorail carriages would also be operated inside the Jakarta city, namely on the routes of Cibubur - Cawang, Bekasi Timur - Cawang and Cawang - Kuningan. The Soekarno-Hatta monorail project, according to the minister, could already be operational in 18 months from its initial construction. "For the routes within the Jabodetabek region, we are still waiting permits from the relevant agencies. If the permits are already issued, the schedule of the projects' completion could already be made," he said. (*)